I’m laying a prefinished 2 1/4″ oak floor. I have a 3′ wide hallway that I’m working down and about 3′ into the hall there is an opening for the livingroom on the right. I floored to the opening and went across the room with the row. I added a slip tounge and started backlaying the floor. Now I have about 4-5 rows left before the back lay reaches the wall. I’m running out of room to nail, I’ve been using a finish nailer because I can’t fit the floor nailer in the space. But now I can’t fit the finish nailer either, and the angle is impossible to hand nail, especially with the baseboard heat element running along the wall. If I face nail every joist and in between like I have been doing I’m afraid it will look horrible on a prefinished floor, even with the matching wood filler. Do I have any alternatives? Or is this the way It should be done? Also about six more feet up the hallway another opening exists for the dining room. Should I just continue up both sides of the wall until the floor can be brought together again? I can’t back lay the same room twice right? Thanks for any input.
Izzy
Replies
What? Nobody has an answer?
Its a secret!
seriously,
First disassemble the baseboard heat( you are trying to do this right?)
get an eighteen gauge 2" brad nailer and you should be able to nail within 2 courses of the wall .
glue under the penultimate (hows that for a big word!!) course w/ const. adhes.
the face nail and glue only the last course and any ripping that may be necessary.
reassemble your heat and Voila! nails will be under heat covers!
Mr TDo not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!
T:
Secret? Yup, there are many in the hardwood trade. You're answer sounds okay, though I'd be careful using the construction adhesive because you may be creating an expansion/contraction problem depending on the type of adhesive used. I've been hearing more and more about this as Greg Warren had mentioned it but his was only on a starter row.
I'd rely on the tried and tested method which calls for top nailing the ones you can't side nail. I like the use of the 18 guage nailer as it creates a much smaller nail hole. I've done it, but use twice the number of nails than usual.
Ken Fisher
http://www.floridawoodfloors.net
Fish
come to think of it, my hardwood buddie has also warned me about the new const. adhes. as it dosnot have any "give" to it any more.
So I will ammend my reccomendation to skip the glue and to just nail the last course and let it hold the previous course in (nail both front and back edges).
I f you really hate the visible nail holes you can custom mix some shades of Color Putty and make them practically disappear.
TDo not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!